So now this golden Supporters' Shield opportunity is within reach. (This is awarded in MLS to the team with the most points in the regular season, an achievement known in many lands as a “championship.” But that’s another discussion.)

Clubs do value Supporters' Shield here, and New York would particularly relish it. The league is 18 years old, and yet the club, now under its 13th coaching choice, has achieved so very little.

Considering the resources, and considering its historic place as club of record in the country’s highest profile media market, the lack of achievement lies somewhere between “head-scratcher” and “embarrassment.”

So a Supporters' Shield would highlight the club’s CV, ranking right up there with a 2008 MLS Cup runner-up medal. Alas, that’s about it.

New York is just a point ahead of Sporting Kansas City and two points ahead of Portland, all with one match remaining. Both of the other pursuers finish with tougher assignments, both on the road, however.

Besides, only New York controls its Supporters' Shield fate. If Cahill, Thierry Henry and the willing cast of midfield scrappers (looking mostly at you, Dax McCarty) can do the business at home against Chicago, the award goes to New York.

As for the Eastern Conference regular season crown, also there for New York’s taking, the summer and fall have been top-heavy in the East. New York and Kansas City actually look like good teams – followed by a bunch of up-and-down clubs hoping to cobble together enough points to sneak into the playoffs.

Chicago kept itself in the playoff hunt Saturday – but it took a controversial penalty decision at home to squeeze by woeful Toronto.

Houston looked like a rising threat for a while. And this is manager Dominic Kinnear, after all, the wily Scotsman whose ability to grind out playoff results is matched by no one this side of Bruce Arena. But his Dynamo, literally from the opening seconds, looked way out of sorts Sunday. Balls bounced off players, out of bounds. Shooting and crossing was awful. And the marking on New York’s third goal was Enron-level in its criminality.

(Remember when Houston didn’t lose at home? The Dynamo reaches the regular season finish line at BBVA Compass Stadium with a 9-4-4 mark at home, a humble plus-7 goal difference there.)

One more thing to say about New York and this one: More and more, this is Cahill’s team. His record-breaking opener Sunday was goal No. 11 this year, one more than Henry. Luis Robles has been increasingly dependable in goal, Jamison Olave commands the back and McCarty supplies the midfield hustle-bustle … but it’s Cahill’s goals that are making the team’s pulse race faster now; RBNY is surfing a seven-game unbeaten wave.

He’s not just scoring goals, he’s hitting the important ones, like that equalizer deep into stoppage time two weeks ago against New England, or the 76th minute equalizer in a worthy draw at Seattle. And Sunday’s opener, of course. SD

Top MVP candidates keep making classy cases

Major League Soccer’s three leading candidates for Most Valuable Player are not making things easier on voters. All three had good weekends, all continuing to construct classy cases for the league’s top individual honor.

The Galaxy’s Robbie Keane, whose combined goals-assists total continues to top the league (26), could not have written a more heroic Round 34 narrative. Keane went all 90 in Ireland's World Cup qualifying win over Kazakhstan on Tuesday. Hours later he was over the Atlantic, bound for Los Angeles. Mere hours after landing, later that evening, he was on the StubHub Center pitch for the Galaxy’s important contest against Montreal.

And this was no symbolic inspiration that he provided during a 1-0 midweek victory. The Galaxy’s prosaic attack sprang to life upon Keane’s 60th minute introduction. Kofi Opare got the 68th-minute goal, but Keane picked up all the deserved recognition for putting the necessary zip and zing into the Galaxy work over the final third.

It was Marco Di Vaio providing his team’s drive and desire at Stade Saputo, helping the fading Impact rally its way back into the playoff conversation. Down 1-0 to Philadelphia and looking like a side about to tumble completely out of the post-season race, the Italian veteran charged to the rescue. His 20th goal, alert, intelligent and skillful, was the equalizer as Montreal reversed a sluggish first half and rode out a 2-1 winner, late-season momentum tentatively reestablished.

That put Di Vaio temporarily in the pole position for Golden Boot – until Chicago’s Magee matched the showy number with his own 20th just hours later. The PK award was controversial and probably harsh, but Magee was cool in the conversion. Chicago still has work ahead to make the playoffs, but if the Fire can cross the post-season finish line, the award seems destined to Magee’s mantel.

By the way, 20-goal seasons are fairly rare in MLS. The past 17 seasons have seen just 10. So even if Di Vaio or Magee do nothing else, they’ve accomplished something special already. SD

Considering the Seattle Sounders’ stunning collapse

As for all that big Supporters' Shield talk around Seattle, all the mighty chest thumping about being an MLS Cup favorite … you may now find that in some dumpster behind CenturyLink Field. Don’t bother retrieving it; it’s worthless as half a shoestring.

All the cocky bluster has been replaced by puzzled attempts to explain the Sounders’ stunning collapse.

The latest poor result in the Sounders September-October spiral was a 2-0 loss to deeply flawed FC Dallas, a team already eliminated from the playoffs, a team with such fractured team accord that two players needing to be separated walking into the halftime tunnel on Saturday, a team whose manager has just resigned and a team missing two top starters. Yes, that team.

And it’s not like Seattle was barely beaten. Rhythm, possession and good chances were scarce for Sigi Schmid’s team, and the manager took his share of the blame. “It rests on my shoulders,” Schmid said. “We just aren’t able to come up with the right combinations on the field. … Those guys are fighting and battling. The combinations I’ve put out on the field just haven’t come up with the results.”

It’s not all Schmid’s fault, although it’s impossible to argue that the manager has employed much imagination in dealing with some recent injuries, to arrest this ongoing death spiral. The Sounders have lost four in a row (outscored 12-2) and are winless in six.

Still, those are brave words coming from a man all but certain to lose his job if Seattle cannot make the playoffs. Heck, talk was rampant that Schmid was on the outs if his Sounders did make the playoffs but failed to capture Supporters' Shield.

Well, the Sounders are in the playoffs, at least. They backed in late Sunday night when San Jose failed to beat Los Angeles.

Yippee …?

Clint Dempsey took pain killers to play through an injured shoulder, but he’s still looking for his first goal or assist, eight games into his personal MLS Go-Round No. 2. Nigerian international Obafemi Martins and U.S. international Eddie Johnson are hurt, and ball hawking midfielder Osvaldo Alonso was suspended from Saturday’s loss.

The only hotter topic around CenturyLink: whether the tremendous investment in Dempsey’s August acquisition was worth it. Considering the enormous expectations, maybe even getting close to recouping such a sum in the short term was impossible. SD

The rare case of a shot-less success for RSL in Portland

Real Salt Lake failed to register a shot on goal, yet Jason Kreis was satisfied with his team's performance. At least, that's what the RSL boss said after his team took a point out of JELD-WEN Field, Saturday's 0-0 keeping his team one-point behind the conference-leading Timbers in the West. Though the scoreline also gave the Galaxy a chance to leapfrog both teams, it also secured a playoff spot for Kreis's team. When you're on the road, against one of the league's best teams, and without your best player, you can't get too greedy about the results. That's the situation RSL walked into before kickoff on Saturday, with playmaker Javier Morales suspended for the big match in Portland. Without his number ten, Kreis employed the most-defensive midfield he could have picked without changing his setup. Kyle Beckerman, the normal holder, moved to the right side of the diamond, with backup destroyer Yordany Alvarez brought into the team. If all worked out, the choice would lock down the middle of JELD-WEN's narrow field, replacing Portland's control with conflict and chaos.

Save for few moments of stress, that's exactly what happened. Though the Timbers were more decisive through the middle, Real Salt Lake were more effective, limiting their goals to disruption and counters. The latter never came off, direct balls for Robbie Findley never connecting before the former US international was replaced. The disruption, however, limited the Timbers to four shots on goal, with the match's most dangerous moments (balls sent through the six barely missing sprawling Timbers) failing to test Nick Rimando.

Salt Lake's keeper came up huge when asked, though, starting with a point blank stop on Alhassan just after the hour. Then, in second half stoppage time, a free kick well-won by Frederic Piquionne gave Will Johnson a chance to win it from 19 yards out. Rimando's quick hands stopped both the restart and the follow-up.

Kreis likened the match to a playoff game, and not only because of the atmosphere at JELD-WEN. In the playoffs, he'd explained, you need to be able to lock down these type of games, an implicit justification of his approach. Though he eschewed a chance to retake the West's lead (and stay in the Supporters' Shield race), Kreis saw a team that was ready for the playoffs, one that can take confidence from stifling a potential playoff foe. RF

The Galaxy's surprise contribution to the anti-spending lobby

The Galaxy's 2013 trajectory has been far less consistent than last year's plunge-then-thrive, but after this week's matches brought them even in the games played column, Bruce Arena's team is faced with a little-discussed possibility: Their postseason position could actually be better than last year's title-winning team, a status they can confirm with a win on Sunday in Seattle.

That outcome didn't look so likely on Wednesday when a team defined by stars was without Landon Donovan and Omar Gonzalez (and Robbie Keane at kickoff) against visiting Montréal. The Americans were hampered by injury, while the Ireland international was just returning from being an Ireland international. In came understudies Jack McBean, Jose Villarreal, and Kofi Opare, and although the resulting team was fortunate to survive a half of Impact chances, they eventually came good, Opare converting from the chaos of a second half corner to give LA a 1-0 win. Whereas a fortnight before LA was being pulled into a playoff, all of a sudden they were in third place – one spot above last year's finish.

The contrast between the Galaxy and the team they passed, the Sounders, is irresistible. Thanks to the Clint Dempsey signing, Seattle usurped LA's reputation as MLS spendthrifts. Yet shortly after Seattle's losing streak hit four games, Los Angeles found a way to win without any of their stars. For one night, LA became an ironic reminder: The correlation between spending and results is more spurious than many choose to believe.

Further evidence came Sunday when Los Angeles's stars returned (if temporarily; Gonzalez left in the second half). Against a San Jose team needing a win to maintain a practical chance at the postseason, LA never broke through. After a half spent misfiring, a half of haphazard forays and hopeful stabs found San Jose defenders when they weren't squelched by Jon Busch. The 0-0 result got LA into the playoffs (and kept them third), but as with Real Salt Lake, it also prevented them from going top in the West.

Now, the test: How much does LA want to avoid the four-five round? Win in Seattle and they avoid the four-five game, likely earning third and a semifinal against Real Salt Lake (both RSL and Portland close their seasons with Chivas USA). A draw or a loss? LA open themselves up to another play-in game, an opening that could have been closed on Sunday night. RF